1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clothes washer having a main pulsator and plural sub-pulsators, and more particularly to a clothes washer by which a driving force of a motor is directly and simultaneously transferred to a main pulsator and plural sub-pulsators via a driving force transmitting apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a clothes washer is operated by predetermined modes, e.g., a water supplying mode for supplying water to a clothes basket, a clothes washing mode for washing clothes by water supplied in the water supplying mode, a rinsing mode for rinsing clothes after completion of the clothes washing mode, and a dehydrating mode for dehydrating the clean clothes after the rinsing mode.
FIG. 3 illustrates the typical clothes washer which is operated by a series of modes. A water basket 2 for housing an amount of water is provided in a rectangular housing 1. The water basket 2 is shaped as a hollow cylinder for preventing the interruption of swirling water during the clothes washing mode, and is suspended in the housing via a suspension rod 7.
That is, a damper 7a is provided at each of four spots of the bottom portion of circumferential outer surface of the water basket 2. Each damper 7a is connected to one lower end of a suspension rod 7, while the other upper end of the suspension rod 7 is connected in suspension to a bracket (not shown) which is mounted at an upper portion of inner surface of the housing 1.
Moreover, the cylindrical clothes basket 3 is rotatably disposed in the water basket 2. The clothes basket 3 has plural openings 3a through which the water supplied into the clothes basket 3 flows toward the water basket 2. Thus, the water level of the clothes basket 3 is the same as that of the water basket 2. Dirty water dehydrated from the water absorbing clothes during the dehydrating mode and a lint flow through the openings to the water basket 2.
Moreover, a weight balancer (not shown) is provided at the circumference of an upper rim of the clothes basket 3 to reduce the vibration of the clothes basket 3 during the dehydrating mode.
The pulsator 4 is provided at the inner bottom of the clothes basket 3 to be rotated in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. The water supplied in the clothes basket 3 is shaken causing the clothes to be rubbed together, thus executing a washing operation.
A reduction gear assembly 6 is provided beneath the water basket 3 and has a washing shaft 6a and a dehydrating shaft 6b on the upper portion of the gear assembly 6. The washing shaft 6a is connected with the pulsator 4, while the dehydrating shaft 6b is attached to the bottom portion of the clothes basket 3. The reduction gear assembly 6 is rotated in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions by the rotation of the motor 5 attached on the bottom of the water basket 2.
In the clothes washer provided as above, clothes are loaded in the water basket 3 and water is supplied into the water basket 3, proceeding with the washing mode. That is, when the motor 5 is rotated in bi-directions at the washing mode, the rotational force of the motor is transferred to the reduction gear assembly 6. The speed reduced rotational force is transferred to the pulsator 4 through the washing shaft 6a. The bi-directional rotation of the pulsator 4 causes swirling of the water, and the clothes are rubbed together by the swirling water to proceed with the washing operation.
In other words, when the planar pulsator 4 is rotated, plural wings radially formed on the upper surface of the pulsator 4 enable the water to be swirled. During the rotation of the pulsator, the clothes are rubbed together by the rotating water stream.
Further, when the pulsator 4 is rotated in bi-directions during the washing mode, vibration occurs in the water basket 2 due to the rotation of the clothes basket 3 and the swirling of the washing water. Since the water basket 2 is elastically suspended in the housing via the suspension rod 7, the vibration is reduced.
After the completion of the washing mode and draining of the water, the dehydrating mode proceeds. When the motor 5 is rotated at a high speed in one way direction during the dehydrating mode, the dehydrating shaft 6b is rotated at a high speed by the switching of the driving force transmission route, thus rotating the clothes basket 3 at a high speed.
The centrifugal force is applied to the clothes by the high speed rotation of the clothes basket 3. The clothes is spread out on the inner surface of the clothes basket 3, and the water absorbed in the clothes is dehydrated. The spun-away water is discharged to the water basket 2 through plural openings 3a formed at the clothes basket 3. The discharged water is drained through the drain pipe (not shown).
However, in the conventional clothes washer, the washing process proceeds utilizing the swirling water generated during the bi-directional rotation of the pulsator 4. The clothes are gathered in the center of the clothes basket to be twisted and tangled. This causes inefficient washing in respect of clothes and thus poor efficiency of the washing. That is, the rotational water stream occurs, and the clothes are rotated by the water stream. During this operation, the clothes are rubbed together, and the washing is proceeds. The swirling water gathers the clothes in the center of the clothes basket, and the clothes are twisted and tangled. The twisted and tangled clothes cannot rub together easily. Thus, washability is greatly reduced, and the washing time is also lengthened.
Furthermore, the long washing time enables the motor 5 and the reduction gear assembly 6 to be overloaded so the life of the clothes washer is shortened. More, since only a continual water stream generated by the pulsator 4 is utilized during the washing process, the efficiency of the washing is reduced.
A washer for solving the above problems is disclosed at U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 08/870,825 (Jun. 6, 1997) which is applied by the same inventor as the present invention. A pulsator apparatus of the washer comprises a driving pulsator disposed above a bottom portion of a clothes basket and rotated by a motor, and a plurality of driven pulsators rotated by the rotation of the driving pulsator around each axis of respective support shafts fixed on the side wall of the clothes basket.
In the above washer, the swirling of the water is generated by the rotation of a sun pulsator and plural satellite pulsators, and the washing efficiency can be increased. However, since the rotating plural pulsators directly make contact with the clothes, it damages soft clothes.
Further, the rotation force of the motor is transferred to plural satellite pulsators and is diminished in some portion and the remaining force is transferred to the sun pulsator. Therfore, a problem occurs that the satellite pulsator can generate insufficient swirling to the washing.